Overnight snowfall leads to slick, slippery roads in Calgary

Persistent overnight snow has created some challenging conditions for drivers on the last day of the work week in Calgary.

Calgary police told CTV News that they were called to almost 200 crashes on Thursday during the first part of the storm. Thirteen of those incidents involved injuries.

From midnight to 11:30 a.m. on Friday morning, police say there had been 127 crashes, including 24 hit-and-runs. Nine of those incidents caused injuries.

The City of Calgary said its called in additional crews, deploying more than 60 trucks that will be concentrating on trouble spots – bridge decks and hills – before shifting to priority routes.

"It's been a bit of a roller coaster with this snow event," said Chris McGeachy with the City of Calgary. "The roads may still seem like they're partially snow covered, but we want to remind people that there could be delays."

Meanwhile, anyone heading out to the mountains might find some trouble of their own on the road.

While one lane on the Trans-Canada Highway is clear, the other lane is still snow covered, but visibility might also be an issue for some drivers, so travel isn't recommended unless it's absolutely essential.

CALGARY TRANSIT ACTIVATES SNOW DETOURS

The accumulation of snow has prompted Calgary Transit to introduce detours on some of its routes until the end of service on Saturday Dec. 9.

“We follow weather forecasts closely, but we all know things can change quickly and unexpectedly in Calgary,” said Stephen Tauro, manager of transit service support.

“We wanted to avoid confusion during the morning commute as much as possible, which is why we waited until after the morning rush to activate our snow detours, allowing us time to fully communicate with customers.”

A list of all bus routes that have snow detours can be viewed at calgarytransit.com/SnowDetours

BIG BOOST FOR SNOW REMOVAL BUSINESS

The added snow is difficult for most people driving around the city, but some local businesses are embracing the influx of calls.

Alex Rushforth-Flores, owner of Scoop, Cut N Shovel said Friday has been a much-awaited day for the snow removal season.

"When we get the snow, we get the calls coming in so that helps a lot,” he said.

“But when we don't get a lot of snow, then it's hard to keep guys on right? It’s hard to keep the consistent workers with the labor shortage. So you can find people, but it's hard to find good people that want to put in the extra mile and work hard too.”